sustainable consumption and global equity: issues, key challenges … · 2012. 9. 11. ·...
TRANSCRIPT
Sustainable consumption
and global equity:
issues, key challenges and
questions
18th session of the Commission on
Sustainable Development
May 6th, 2010, New York
Stephen Spratt, Head of Sustainable
Markets, IIED
(un)sustainable consumption is
breaching ecological limits
Source: WWF (2008) Source: WBCSD (2008)
The environmental foundations of
MDGs are insecure
� 1: Eradicate poverty and hunger – sustainable NRM
� 2: Universal primary education – sanitation / water / fuelwood
� 3: Gender equality and empower women – NR access
� 4: Reduce child mortality – sanitation / water
� 5: Improve maternal health – water / fuelwood
� 6: Combat major diseases – wat-san / biodiversity / climate
� 7: Ensure env sustainability – rights / accountability
� 8: Global partnership – manage global public goods (BD, CC)
Over & under-consumption
� 400 million are obese,
while almost a billion are
undernourished
� Life expectancy in
developed countries is
about 80, in sub-Saharan
Africa it is 52.
� MDGs targets on poverty,
education, maternal
mortality, sanitation and
environment all likely to
be missed Source: WRI (2008)
“Act only according to that maxim whereby you
can at the same time will that it should
become a universal law”
The ‘Categorical Imperative’ of Immanuel Kant, 1775
Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals
Tinkering is not enough
� ‘Sustainable consumption’ = real needs are met for
everyone and all can aspire to the same standard of living
� Not possible with current production techniques
� ‘Relative decoupling’ shows no signs of becoming ‘absolute
decoupling’
� The Jevons Paradox holds
� Developed economies are not reducing consumption
� We seem to be locked into a model of ever increasing
energy and resource-intensive production and consumption
Unilateralism = unintended
consequences
� ‘Sustainable consumption’ debate
has been very Northern-focused
� The focus on reducing consumption
seen as environmentally damaging
can harm producers in developing
countries
� But it is a global issue that goes to
the heart of countries’ economic and
social arrangements and
interdepdencies
Global problems need coordinated
solutions
� ‘Trickle down’ global growth based on fossil-fuel powered energy and resource extraction not sustainable for people or the planet
� Finite resources need to be more equally shared
� We need international mechanisms to manage this if we are to avoid a ‘grab’ for resources
� And people need to participate fully in decision-making, locally, nationally and internationally
� The invisible hand of the market is not enough; it needs the guiding hand of society (Adam Smith)
Towards a ‘green economy?’
� Growing sense that different economic model is needed to
reorient away from consumption towards sustainable
investment, ‘green growth’ and ‘green jobs’. 5 Themes:
1. Investment in low-carbon energy, transport, infrastructure
2. OECD/G20 recovery packages and green investment
3. Financial/corporate reform (financial/banking regulations,
‘socially useful’ finance, green markets; new business
models/CSR)
4. Intergovernmental strategies, studies, guidance on Green
Economy (OECD, UNEP, UNDP, ILO, EC)
5. NGO/think-tank visions and wellbeing measures
Sustainable consumption and a global
green economy?
� As with the sustainable consumption discourse, green
economy has been very Northern-centric
� Consumption needs to be sustainable globally – meeting
needs and aspirations equitably within ecological limits
� Change may require a shift to a ‘green economy’ model:
1. Economic resilience
2. Biosphere protection
3. Equity and social justice
� … and accountability for 1-3 above
(Green Economy Coalition)
Some (huge)unanswered questions
1. With finite resources, does more consumption in some
countries automatically imply less elsewhere?
2. By what mechanisms can the enormous changes this
implies be coordinated and realised, and how can global
equity be enhanced and protected in the process?
3. Is this possible within our current economic
arrangements, or is a coordinated shift to ‘green
economies’, which reflect local priorities, needed?